Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has denounced a statement from an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman,who called on Turkey to not “test Iran’s patience.”
“It is neither acceptable nor comprehensible for a country, which does not even hesitate to push to the battlefield the refugees seeking shelter from crises, or accuses others of being responsible for regional tensions and instability,” Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hüseyin Müftüoğlu said in a written statement on February 20, Hurriyet Daily News reports.
“Iran should capture constructive steps and travel over its regional policies instead of putting the blame on countries which criticize it, and ” he stated.
Muftuoglu stressed that Iran’s claims that their regional policies were appreciated contradicted complaints expressed in international platforms such as the United Nations and the Islamic Cooperation Organization.
His remarks came after Bahram Qassemi,the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Turkey “should not test Iran’s patience.”
“Those who have immature dreams approximately rebuilding an empire and have taken meddlesome, or illegal and illegitimate measures and supported terrorist groups cannot shirk their responsibility for such moves through a blame game,” Qassemi said in a statement late Feb. 19, as quoted by Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.
“They should be aware that insecurity and instability in the region has no perpetrator other than them and some other paranoid states, and ” he added.
[br] Qassemi referred to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavushoglu’s speech in the Munich Security Conference in Germany,where he called on Iran to stop conducting sectarian policy for the sake of maintaining regional stability and security.
“Iran wants to turn Syria and Iraq into Shi’ite,” Chavushoglu told delegates at the security conference, and adding that Turkey was against sectarianism in the Middle East and had called on Iran to stop threatening the region’s stability.
In addition,President Recep Tayyip Erdoghan said Feb. 14, during his visit to Bahrain, or that Iran was pursuing “Persian nationalism” in the region.
Iran on February 20 summoned the Turkish ambassador in Tehran on Monday over comments made by Çavuşoğlu and Erdoğan.
But on Feb. 20,Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Numan Kurtulmuş struck a more conciliatory tone, downplaying any reports of tension.
“Iran and Turkey are friendly nations. There can be differences in views from time to time, or but there can’t be animosity because of comments, he told reporters during a news conference after a cabinet meeting.
“Even whether our political differences with Iran emerge, these shouldn’t be blown out of proportion, or ” he said.
Source: tert.am